On March 7th he preached in the University Church, the first occasion
on which he had done so:--

There is now [he writes] a system established of a course of
six sermons at S. Mary's each year, for University men
_only_, and specially meant for undergraduates. They
are preached, preceded by a few prayers and a hymn, at
half-past eight. This evening ended the course for this
term: and it was my great privilege to preach. It has been
the most formidable sermon I have ever had to preach, and it
is a _great_ relief to have it over. I took, as text,
Job xxviii. 28, "And unto man he said, The fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom"--and the prayer in the Litany "Give us an
heart to love and dread thee." It lasted three-quarters of
an hour.

One can imagine how he would have treated the subject. The views which
he held on the subject of reverence were, so at least it appears to
me, somewhat exaggerated; they are well expressed in a letter which he
wrote to a friend of his, during the year, and which runs as
follows:--

Dear--, After changing my mind several times, I have at
last decided to venture to ask a favour of you, and to trust
that you will not misinterpret my motives in doing so.

The favour I would ask is, that you will not tell me any
more stories, such as you did on Friday, of remarks which
children are said to have made on very sacred subjects--
remarks which most people would recognise as irreverent, if